Improved shoe-string



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM FREEMAN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVED SHOE-STRING.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FREEMAN, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shoe-Strings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a shoe having my improved string fitted in it; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same, taken through the lower holes in the upper of the shoe.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts.

This invention is more especially designed for childrens and army shoes, or those which are provided with a small number otl stringholes, and which consequently admit of the strings beinglable to belost when they become casually untied. Army shoes or brogansthose used by soldiers-have but few holes, and when on the march it a string becomes untied it most generally gets detached from the shoe and is lost, and, as they have none on hand, its place cannot be supplied, and in ease of passing through mud or swampy places the foot is frequently drawn out from the shoe, causing much inconvenience.

My invention is designed to obviate this difficulty; and it consists in providing the string with a central hole or eyelet to admit o" the former being applied to the shoe, so

that in case of the string becoming untied it cannot be disengaged from the shoe.

A represents an ordinary brogan or armyshoe, and B my improved string, which has an enlarged portion, a, at its center to admit of a hole, I), being made in it, in which hole a metal eyelet may be fitted. The enlargement a is for the purpose of admitting the hole b being made without weakening the string, and said hole must be suiiiciently large in diameter to admit of the two ends of the string being drawn through it, as shown in both figures. The ends of the string B are passed down through the two lower side holes, c c, of the shoe and are then passed upward through the central hole, d, and throughthe hole b at the center of the string. This effectually secures the string to the shoe and prevents itfrom becoming lost. The string after having been drawn through the hole b is passed through the remaining holes of the shoe and tied in the usual manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as an improved article of manufacture, 1s

A Shoestring provided with a hole or per foration to admit ot'its being applied toa shoe, substantially in the manner as and for the purpose herein set forth.

WILLIAM FREEMAN.

Witnesses:

BENJ. S. PARDUE, WILLIAM E. ALLING. 

